My Best Day Hunting

I have to say that one of my fondest and memorable experiences hunting in the woods was the day I took my two daughters hunting with me.
I had just gotten out of the woods from my morning hunt and was eating a bite of food, when all of a sudden my daughters come out of our camper and started asking if was I going to take them to the tree stand so they could hunt too. I was so excited about taking them but I also had, in the back of my mind, worry that it was going to be a difficult time keeping two girls quiet in a box blind for 3 – 4 hours.
After giving it some thought on where I could take them and not interfere with my other hunting buddies that shared the property with me, I finally decided on this one large box blind that overlooks a really nice food plot. I took them to the stand about 30 minutes earlier than normal, so that it would give me a chance to get an extra chair setup for them in the box and also a chance to let things calm down after getting settled in for an evening hunt.
Everything started out great and I was very surprised at how well things were going for us, as the girls keep a sharp eye on the woods looking for deer. Then all of the sudden I started hearing my youngest daughter saying in a very low and fearful tone “DADDY!! DADDY!! There is a bug in here with us!! DADDY!! DADDY!! Kill the bug; Kill the bug please, please.” So I adjusted myself so that I could kill the bug, with as little noise as possible. Success, my baby was happy and we starting to look for deer again.
After about 5 minutes, I hear my youngest daughter saying in her best low voice “DADDY!! DADDY!! There is another bug in here, DADDY KILL IT, PLEASE KILL IT”. This bug was a little bigger and seems to like flying around my daughters head. Needless to say, after having a few chairs pushed around, a few muffled screams and dancing around trying to get away from the bug, I was finally able to take it out!!
We probably could have taken a drum with us to the stand and made less noise then we did trying to kill that darn bug. I decided to give it one last chance, I would look over at my girls who at this point were no longer looking for deer but had changed their attention to looking for BUGS. I was laughing inside so hard that my eyes were starting to water up from trying to hold it all in. I pretty much knew our hunt was over but I wanted to make this a good experience for them both so I started using my grunt call to try to entice a deer to come and see what was going on. I handed my daughters each a grunt call and all of the sudden it sounded like we were hunting ducks from a box blind. They both started blowing the calls at each other and at this time I said what the heck and I started blowing mine at them too! We were all laughing so hard I knew that if there was a deer within ear shot of us he was now in the next county due to all the noise that we were making.
Then came the mosquitoes, by this time there was no holding them back, they were both ready to go back to the camp. I knew that it was pretty much a clear shot to the camper for us, so I figured we wouldn't be disturbing my friends’ hunts. That was main reason I picked the stand we went to, as something told me we would not be in it for long. I got the girls all loaded up onto our 4-wheeler and started heading back. As we were easing back toward camp, I stopped and ask my daughters if they would like to check out a food plot that was not far off of the main dirt road that went down the center of the property we were hunting on. I figured we had nothing to lose so what the heck; we started walking toward the food plot as quietly as possible, trying to avoid every broken stick that laid on the ground, so that we didn't give up our ninja style father and daughters stalking abilities.
Again, I was just trying to make it a good time for my girls, not expecting to see anything. When we finally got close to our destination, I told my girls to hold back a second and so I could check to see if there were any deer feeding on the plot. I finally found a gap in the brush that encircled the food plot and to my surprise there was a small buck out there feeding and to our luck, had not noticed the three hunting ninjas that had snuck up on him. I turned toward my girls and waved for them to come to me as quiet as possible, as I wanted them to at least see the buck before he had a chance to run off.
Once my girls made it to me, they became so excited to see a buck feeding not more than 50 yards away from where we were standing. This is where I looked over at my oldest daughter and asked her if she was ready to try and take her first buck! She told me that she wanted to give it a try, so I loaded my gun. I made sure the safety was on and handed it to her. She was able to hold the gun up but it was too heavy for her to steady it for the shot. I quietly looked around and found a stick that would be about the right height for her to rest the barrel on to help steady her for the shot. As she was looking through the scope, I softly asked her if she could see the deer through the scope, and she told me yes she saw it. Then I asked her if she could hold and focus on the spot behind the front shoulder of the deer, like we had practiced on many occasions while target practicing. She told me that she felt pretty good about it and that she could hit the spot. I made a double check to make sure my little one was still standing back far enough that she would be totally safe, before I would take the safety off for her to fire. After my double check, I told her that I was going to take the safety off, but for her not to touch the trigger until she was sure that she was ready. Click went the safety and within a couple of seconds’ later boom went the gun. I immediately took the gun from her and made it safe again, all the while looking at both of their reactions of what had just happened.
I looked out to see if she had made a good shot or not! I was very excited to see the deer laying at the edge of the food plot. I couldn't tell if he was still moving and I didn't want my girls to see that part. I got down on my knees and grabbed both of my girls and told them how proud I was of them both and I hoped that they had a great time hunting with Dad, which they replied “Yes".
At this point I checked, through my binoculars, on the deer again and could tell that he had passed. I felt that we had given him enough time so we slowly started walking toward him. When we got within a few feet of the buck, I had my girls stop while I gave him a final check to make sure he was dead. This is when I turned to my daughters and noticed that my oldest daughter was crying and my heart sank as I was afraid that this was going to bother her. I looked at her and asked her what was wrong? She said nothing, but continued to tell me that she was just so excited that she was able to make a good shot on this deer! I was very relieved to hear her say that, as I wanted this to be a great experience for them both.
I ended up getting this little 6 point buck mounted and to this day, have it hanging on my wall right next to my other mounts. This was an experience that I hold close to my heart and I pray that they do also! I am a proud papa of my two girls; they are both growing up now and have matured into two very beautiful and loving young ladies and I love them both with all my heart.